Bar Mundial — Restaurant in Barcelona

This place Is about as old school as it gets. A single waiter might log 30,000 steps a day in 500 sq ft because he was non stop taking care of roughly 30 customers. One guy taking care of 30 guests. Awesome. Also, there is only one guy in the kitchen. Just one; and he is working his little closet of a space to knock out every dish in this place. Two guys handling an entire restaurant for dinner. Two guys. Major credit given for the work ethic at Mundial.

Upon entering Mundial, I spied some crazy green things on a plate when I walked into the restaurant. I say “crazy green things” because green vegetables in Spain seem to be as rare as diamonds. The green things were padron peppers which were wonderfully pan scorched and seasoned generously with salt. I’m thinking my near 50-year old body could use some fiber and green veg sounded like a refreshing treat. Yep, delicious but not the best item here.

No reason to go to far out of the box at Mundial and keep it simple. Croquettes, Patatas Bravas, red wine. The Patatas were the best I had in Spain. Great fry job and aioli duo of classic heavy garlic (more like the Armenian style garlic sauce than aioli) and the second aioli spiked with smoked paprika..The two different types of croquettes we ok, the bacalao fritter tasted more of potato than fish, with two of the them being cold in the middle. The chicken croquettes were super hot but tasted of older thigh meat. I’m batting 0-2 on croquettes in Spain, but I’ll keep swinging.

As I set up in the previous review with Bar del Pla, I’m finding that each tapas bar has something they do extraordinarily well. In Bar del Pla’s case, it’s braised meat. In Mundial’s case, it’s Patatas Bravas and Padron Peppers. I’m sticking with my theory that it’s going to be difficult for any old-school tapas bar to “run the table” on all things tapas. Rather, the “tapas crawl” might be a better idea when it comes to eating tapas and it shouldn’t be difficult, many of these places are open all day and they certainly don’t...

Super bar a tapas ! La devanture n'est pas forcément celle d'entre les milliers de restos du coin qui m'incitait le plus a rentrer, mais lorsqu'une passante barcelonaise m'a apostrophé par un "muy bien", nous avons franchi le pas. J'aimerai pouvoir la remercier. Ce petit resto authentique vous propose un assortiment de tapas fraîchement confectionnés dans la mini cuisine attenante. Le patron qui parle très bien français (d'où les cartes en français) tout comme son collègue respirent la gentillesse et l'envie de faire plaisir avec leur cuisine. J'ai adoré les calamars grillés, les tapas saucisses à la sauce piquante, les poivrons au sel, les croquetas de poulet, les patates frites, les sauces aïoli ou (peu) piquantes, et surtout les "boulettes fries à la morue et a l'ail" (désolé, je ne sais plus les noms espagnols) que le patron a eu l'excellente idée d'offrir aux différentes tables pour goûter (d'habitude je déteste la morue, là on en a recommencé deux assiettes...). Et même les glaces (aux yaourt/fruits rouges) étaient de grande qualité. L'endroit est assez petit mais très agréable, décoré avec authenticité sur le thème de la boxe. L'addition, si elle n'est pas spécialement élevée, notamment au regard de la prestation, me semble juste et notre hôte a eu la délicatesse de refuser le pourboire que je voulais y ajouter tant j'étais satisfait ! Nos 5 jeunes enfants partagent mon analyse et voulaient y retourner le lendemain, alors qu'il n'y avait pas de "menu" qui leur était spécialement dédiém comme ils en ont souvent l'habitude. Ma femme et moi nous sommes promis d'y revenir un jour ! Merci le Mondial bar pour ce souvenir culinaire, assez simple, et...

Lovely food, tasty and brought to the table immediately, and the girl that served us was very friendly and helpful. The only negative thoughts I have are completely unrelated to the food: I wouldn't have wanted to have sat in the room right next to the toilet, separated by it by just a sliding door, and the beautiful marble-top tables in the room in the back would have been far better complemented by chairs that were not plastic! But I would go again for the food, for sure: the fried aubergines with goats cheese and honey and the baby octopus...